In a little over 11 years, Instagram has managed to rack up roughly a billion monthly active users. That is a lot of people sharing photos and videos! Most people use it to share their lives with their pets, hobbies, friends, and family. Businesses connect with this engaged and highly visual audience to promote their products and services, thereby making Instagram continue to grow in popularity.
While Instagram is a lot of fun, you may be curious to know how to see who viewed your Instagram story, posts, or videos. Maybe you are trying to figure out if someone is interested in you, or you probably want to see who has been peeking at your life behind the scenes. You may also need the information to show clients that are running sponsored Instagram posts with you how many people have seen their ads. Whatever the reason, it is possible to find out who has been engaging with your content. Here are simple ways to know:
How to see who viewed your Instagram Story
The story lets you share photos and videos for 24 hours (1 day). After that, they disappear. You can see who has been viewing your stories by following these steps within the 24-hour timeframe.
1. First, launch Instagram.
2. Go to your “Story.” There is a little icon at the top-left corner of your feed with your profile picture. Click on it to see your story.
3. Swipe up from the story panel to see the total number of people who have viewed your story so far. This information is usually next to an eyeball icon.
4. Below that, you can see all the people who have viewed your story. Including their profile pictures, names, and usernames. It is possible some users are fake but in some cases, you can find who is behind a fake Instagram account.
5. You can go as far as hiding your story from a viewer by tapping the three dots (…) that are next to the viewer’s username. Then, select ‘’Hide your story.”
Be aware that you are the only one who can see who has viewed your Instagram story. This information is not available to other Instagram users.
Steps to see who viewed your Instagram story after 24 hours
Your story tab will automatically clear after 24 hours, and you will be unable to access this data from your story panel. However, you can see all your viewers up to 48 hours after posting them by using the “Archive” feature as well as the “Highlight” feature. Here is how to see who viewed your story using the Archive feature.
1. Launch the app on your device.
2. You can quickly access your profile page by selecting the icon at the bottom-right side of the app.
3. Tap the three lines (≡) button, which is located at the top of your profile page. You will see a menu tab after that.
4. Select the third option shown on the list, which is the “Archive” option.
5. Go to the “Stories Archive” area. Tap on “Posts archive” at the top of the page. Three options will be available to you. Select “Stories archive.”
6. Select a story: On the “Stories Archive” page, you will find all your stories, including the ones that are no longer on your “Story” panel. Select the one you are curious about.
7. Swipe up: You will still be able to see how many people have viewed it and their usernames if the story was uploaded within the 48-hour window.
How to see who viewed your Instagram video
Video content has been hugely popular on the Instagram platform. At the moment, Instagram’s video features let you broadcast in three different formats: Stories, Video Posts, and Reels.
Stories
To see who viewed an Instagram video you posted in Stories, follow the steps mentioned in the previous section.
Video Posts
Unfortunately, you can’t pinpoint every Instagram user that has seen your video post because Instagram does not make that information available. However, the total number of users who like, comment on, and view your videos is available. This should give you an idea of how a video is performing.
Continue reading to learn how to see users who interacted with your posts.
Reels
Instagram’s latest feature called Reels was launched in September 2021. Just like video posts, you are unable to see who views your reels, and this may be for a good reason- reels tend to have tons of views. If you could see who had viewed your videos that would cause some technical issues. Secondly, you may stumble on the content you would not want people to know you viewed. It helps keep your identity private.
To see how many people viewed your reels and engaged with your content;
1. Launch the app on your smartphone.
2. Tap the “Reels” icon.
3. Select your reel.
4. Find out how many times your reel was played, as well as the list of users who liked it by tapping on the digits underneath the heart icon. Tap the number under the comment icon to see the list of people who gave their opinion on your reel in the comment section.
How to see who viewed your Instagram post
When you post images and video posts to your timeline or feed, you can see the number of likes and shares you receive by following these simple steps.
1. Launch the app on your mobile device.
2. Tap the “Profile” icon. You will see a collection of your posts.
3. Click on any post you want to track and find out how many people engaged with it.
4. Below your video or picture, you can see the number of users who commented on and liked your post.
5. Tap “likes” to see the list of users who liked it.
6. Tap “View comment” to find out what others say about your Instagram video post or image.
You’ll be able to have a clue who viewed your post by using this data. Of course, it is not a perfect substitute, but it is as close as you can get because anyone who has interacted with your Instagram post will have viewed the content.
Reference
Statista. Distribution of Instagram users worldwide as of January 2022, by age group.